[December 21, 2012]Monday evening the Lincoln City
Council passed an agreement with the Illinois Department of
Transportation. If all goes well, this could resolve some issues
with the current Amtrak waiting place that have been ongoing for at
least a decade.

The Amtrak structure where passengers wait for the next train
to stop in Lincoln is currently located on property that belongs to
the owners of the Depot Restaurant, which is now closed for daily
business but available for meetings and banquets.

Over the
years the city and the owner at the time have tried to reach
agreements on how to care for and maintain the facility and have
also addressed issues of liability regarding it.

In addition to the restaurant and the waiting station, the
property is also home to the Lincoln christening site landmark.

Because the landmark and the station are important to the city of
Lincoln, light maintenance of the property, such as
cleaning the station, has been the responsibility of the city for
the past several years.

In the past the owner has expressed he would like the city to purchase the
entire property, which amounts to approximately one city block, with
land on both sides of the railroad tracks.

Currently the property is listed with the Garrison Group out of
Springfield.

Monday evening, Snyder said that with the St. Louis-to-Chicago high-speed rail
corridor passing through Lincoln, the Illinois Department of
Transportation and Union Pacific are interested in obtaining
property for a proper waiting station.

Because of this, IDOT wants the authority to negotiate a possible
purchase of the Depot property on behalf of the city.

IDOT has received federal funding for the high-speed rail
program. To date they have invested in track improvements and have
conducted feasibility studies for location and improvement of
current waiting stations.

In their plan, IDOT wants waiting stations to be nice,
comfortable places for passengers to wait for trains. Their ideals
include stations with public restrooms and coffee kiosks or shops.

The current structure does not meet those ideals, as it offers
only a shelter with benches for sitting.

Snyder said IDOT has had the entire property appraised and is
prepared to enter into negotiations for the property once they
get the go-ahead from the council.

In his discussion, Snyder did not disclose how the property would
be used if purchased, so it is not known if the current restaurant
will be transformed into a station or if IDOT will want to construct
something new.

If they are able to purchase the entire property, this will solve
the issue of having a platform on both sides of the tracks. However,
the most recent discussions about a station platform, conducted in
2011, disclosed that new platforms would need to be 500 feet long.
Purchasing the one city block would not be sufficient to provide
that, as a city block is typically only 350 feet long.

Nothing was said about whether or not there would be a need to
purchase additional property for the proper platform.

When the motion came to a vote, the council agreed in a unanimous
6-0 vote to enter into a memorandum of understanding with IDOT. The
six members present were Melody Anderson, David Armbrust, Kathy
Horn, Marty Neitzel, Tom O'Donohue and David Wilmert. Stacy Bacon,
Jeff Hoinacki, and Jonie Tibbs were absent for the evening.